Side Story/3
The story appears to be set before the chaos in the capital. Synopsis A Visit from Bakedanuki Bakedanuki seeks out Seimei to save his missing friends. Apparently, he invited some human friends last night to drink and participate in a Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, however, after he returned from retrieving more alocohol, all his friends disappeared. Hiromasa expressed skepticism at the story, but given Bakedanuki's sincerity and suspecting the work of yokai, the protagonists set out Bakedanuki's home to investigate. Kaidan Yobanashi It is night, and the company arrive at Bakedanuki's home. Hiromasa points out the chilliness of the place while Kohaku detects a scent beloning to neither Bakedanuki nor humans. Seimei also feels the traces of yin energy, but it is too faint to track even with spiritual sight. Kohaku raises the idea of re-enacting the scene by telling kaidan. And as he does so, the yin aura strengthened. Kaidan Illusionary Realm Everyone ends up in an unknown location filled with terrified people. However, Hiromasa's calls to them go unnoticed,and an aki appears, attacking them with no warning. Hyakumonogatari no Shujin As Hiromasa and Seimei fight off the attack, a yokai appears, complimenting Seimei on staying conscious inside her illusionary realm. Seimei questions her, and she tells him that she's merely letting the kaidan-tellers see their tales come to life. Seimei identifies her as Aoandon, and she confirms herself as the master of the Hyakumonogatari. Hiromasa, who doesn't know about how it works, is filled in by Kohaku, and Kagura points to Aoandon as the yokai who drags human souls to hell. Aoandon asks the protagonists if they are ready to go to hell as well, and attacks. Although she is seemingly defeated, more Aoandons appear, as they are actually gen'ei. To Aoandon's complete surprise, Seimei easily dispels them. However, Aoandon still has tricks up her sleeve, as the protagonists are still in her illusionary realm. Aoandon attacks Kohaku, and sets him on fire. Seimei recognizes it as phoenix fire, and Aoandon pauses to ask how he knows this. Seimei recalls his trip to the Phoenix Forest, and Kohaku adds that Hooka herself acknowledges Seimei. Aoandon is incredulous, but asks after Hooka. Seimei states that Hooka is still in the Phoenix Forest, and Aoandon mutters about her perseverance. Regardless, since the protagonists are acquainted with Hooka, Aoandon allows them to go. Seimei in turns says that he'll let her go if she releases the other humans from her illusionary realm. Aoandon begins telling a tale of her own to explain her motives. Aoandon's Story Once upon a time in a village by the Phoenix Forest, a white-haired girl loved collecting kaidan. She would also go into the Phoenix Forest to rehearse the she created kaidan by the river and the woods. These kaidan would be polished repeatedly until they were the most interesting they could be, and the children in the village liked listening to them. Others in the village did not like her, as she had white hair and loved telling tales of monsters. At this, Kagura was confused as to how that would make her disliked, while Seimei explains about the human tendency for exclusion and labelling based on unrelated factors. Eventually, the girl was demonized in the village and less and less people associated with her as the negative rumours of her grew. However, the girl continued telling stories as long as people were willing to hear them, but that didn't last either. The girl recited her kaidan and decided one night to tell a few more, eventually reaching 100 kaidan. Her audience all fled at this, but she continued as she was unaware of the 99 kaidan tradition. With herself as the only audience, the girl held a mirror to her face and finished the kaidan. By the time the story was done, it was daytime again, and the villagers were terrified after the girl came out of the house. Indeed, that girl was Aoandon, and she became a yokai after reciting her 100th kaidan. However, she was unaware of it, and her yori was weak as she just became a yokai, so she was more half-human half-yokai. The villagers grabbed her and tried to immolate her as they saw her as a yokai. Her books of kaidan were also burned as they were seen as evil objects. In the end, Aoandon escaped, but with only an oil lantern. She ran to the Phoenix Forest, as the rumoured jinja in there was the only place she might take refuge in. Encounter in the Phoenix Forest Aoandon looked for the jinja for a long time, but still couldn't do so, to the point that the lantern went out and she faced imminent death from freezing. Falling, she tried telling one last story: the story of the phoenix. As she lost her consciousness, a voice told her that phoenixes do die, but are reborn. Aoandon thinks she must have already died, but the voice told her to live on, so Aoandon was glad to know that there was still someone out there who thinks she should live. Waking up, Aoandon finds her lantern lit with an abnormal flame. Hooka appears and introduces herself as the one who added phoenix fire to the lantern, stating that Aoandon will die if she parts with it since she is no longer human. Aoandon was quick to wonder if Hooka, like the villagers too, saw her as a demon, but Hooka explained that Aoandon no longer has the flames of life as a human. As it turned out, Hooka had listened to many of Aoandon's kaidan, and did not see her as an alien. Hooka stated that humans are too often blinded, and she only believes in those that stay honest to their desires, such as in the case of Aoandon with her passion for stories. Hooka tells Aoandon a kaidan of her own, the hyakumonogatari, and how telling 100 tales will incur something terrible, explaining Aoandon's transfromation into a yokai. Realizing this, Aoandon renounces her human identity and names herself "Aoandon" as a yokai. Hooka invites her to stay, which she gratefully accepts. A New Journey Although Aoandon and Hooka exchanged many stories, the lack of contact with the outside world meant that Aoandon could not come up with any new kaidan. Thus, she departed in search of new kaidan. Despite the story, Seimei still objected to Aoandon's actions of harming humans. But to Aoandon, since they kept on calling her a demon, shouldn't she behave like one for them in turn? Seimei pointed out that she left the Phoenix Forest in search of new tales, and not only is she not doing so, she's also keeping Hooka waiting. Kagura also added that Hooka probably wanted Aoandon to have a good life and not engage in such atrocities. Aoandon caves, and agrees to leave the humans alone. Reminded of her purpose once again, Aoandon prepares to go out to collect more kaidan, but not before Seimei extracts a promise from her not to harm humans. In turn, Aoandon requests Seimei to pass on a message to Hooka for her - that Aoandon is creating interesting kaidan and for her to wait for her to return. Category:Side Story